London Evening Standard/London


Kate Middleton (left) leaves Westminster Abbey with her mother Carole and Prince Harry (centre) , en route to Clarence House in London yesterday
Kate Middleton will not promise to “obey” Prince William when she makes her wedding vows, it was revealed yesterday.
Instead she will pledge to “love, comfort, honour and keep” in the style set by Diana 30 years ago. William will also say “I will” to the same vows.
The bride-to-be emerged from Westminster Abbey smiling broadly yesterday morning following last-minute rehearsals with best man Prince Harry.
She left with her mother Carole and father Michael.
Her sister Pippa, her maid of honour, and all four bridesmaids  -  Lady Louise Windsor, Margarita Armstrong-Jones, Grace van Cutsem and Eliza Lopes  - were also there.
Harry, who was also present alongside his brother at a 90-minute rehearsal on Wednesday night, waved to the crowd from the back seat of a sports car as it whisked them away.
One onlooker, Julie Small, 41, from Blackpool, who is camping outside the Abbey, said: “It’s so exciting to think it’s actually happening. I just rang home to tell them I got a glimpse of the prince.”
The Order of Service was published online yesterday with a message from the couple thanking the public for their “incredibly moving” good wishes during their engagement.
They wrote: “We are both so delighted that you are able to join us in celebrating what we hope will be one of the happiest days of our lives.
“The affection shown to us by so many people during our engagement has been incredibly moving, and has touched us both deeply.”
The £2 souvenir programme, which includes the Order of Service for the ceremony, features a new black and white portrait of the couple by fashion photographer Mario Testino, who took their official engagement shots.
Some 150,000 copies of the programme will go on sale along the procession route and in Hyde Park today. It reveals that Kate’s brother, James, 23, will give the lesson, while prayers will be said for the “gift of children” and that Kate may be “faithful to her husband”.
Harry was yesterday confirmed as one of the witnesses to the signing of the marriage register. He and James Middleton were added to the list after Wednesday night’s rehearsal, joining the bride and groom’s parents and Pippa Middleton.
All will put their names to the legal documents in the only private part of the wedding, when they move to the tiny enclosed Chapel of St Edward the Confessor behind the altar.
The couple have selected the Series One (1966) Book of Common Prayer ceremony which allows the bride to drop “obey him” and “serve him” from the religious proceedings.
With William choosing not to wear a wedding ring, only the prince will say “With this ring I thee wed” as he places the band on his bride’s finger.
Yesterday, as the music for the ceremony was revealed to have a “best of British” theme, it emerged that pop star Ellie Goulding will perform at the royal wedding dinner party at Buckingham Palace.
Yesterday night, the Queen, joined by Prince Andrew and princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, hosted a dinner for foreign dignitaries at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Knightsbridge. They were joined briefly by Prince Charles and Camilla, who departed for dinner with William and Harry at Clarence House. The Middletons are at the Goring Hotel.